Saturday, August 2, 2014

According to Reuters, US tourist Jeffrey Fowle, 56, was arrested by North Korean authorities for
leaving a bible under a bin in the toilet at a club for foreign sailors,
a source familiar with Fowle's case told Reuters.

During his ten-day trip to North Korea, Fowle's fellow travelers
described the middle-aged street repair worker from Miamisburg, OH as
a warm, amiable, quiet man.

On May 4, towards the end of an evening spent eating and drinking in
Chongjin, a large industrial city on North Korea's east coast, Fowle's
action led to him being thrown in jail, where he is awaiting trial in
one of the world's most inhospitable countries.

He left a bilingual English-Korean bible in the restaurant he and his
fellow travelers were about to leave, the source, who wished to remain
anonymous because of the sensitivities surrounding the case.

COMMENT: Based on Fowle's behavior and intention to leave the Bible behind, it appears that his conduct was self-inflicted.

In the bilingual Bible, Fowle had written his name and phone number, and inserted photos of himself and his family between its pages.

He was arrested three days later at the airport where he was due to board a flight abroad.

Fowle and fellow detained US tourist Matthew Miller, who was
arrested in April 2014 for a separate incident, said they will face trial
soon and have called on the US government to help secure their release
in an interview with AP.

A
hand-written letter from Fowle shown in the interview confirmed he was
arrested for intentionally leaving a bible in the northern city of
Chongjin.

Yet, at the Chongjin Seaman's Club, a faded compound originally
designed as a hostel for visiting mariners that sell foreign whiskeys
and serves local food, Fowle wrapped a bilingual English-Korean bible
bound in fake leather in a Chinese newspaper and hid it the restroom,
under a bin designed to discard the used toilet paper North Korea's
aging plumbing can't handle.

A cleaner found the package, and alerted local authorities.

When his guides asked if anyone had left anything at the club - a small
cluster with shops, a sauna and noodle restaurants also open to locals
with the cash to spend on cheap drinks, he said it was him, and that he
"must've dropped it."

While
North Korea technically espouses freedom of religion it is ranked as one
of the world's most oppressive regimes in terms of such freedom.
Pyongyang has dismissed recent reports on its oppression of religion as
an attempt by the United States to "tarnish the image" of the isolated
country.

Two months before Fowle visited North Korea, Australian
missionary John Short had been arrested for leaving bible tracts at
areas open to tourists in the isolated country. Short, 75, was released
on account of his advanced age after state media released a written
apology.

Fowle appeared in an AP video on Friday
alongside Miller, who was arrested for ripping up his tourist visa and
attempting to claim political asylum, according to state media.

Chongjin is one of the most sensitive cities open to tourists visiting
North Korea. The scene for much of journalist Barbara Demmick's Nothing
to Envy, based on a collection of interviews, it is the very
epitome of the grim, grey Orwellian North Korea recalled by defectors.

If Fowle had hidden a bible anywhere else in North Korea, he probably
wouldn't have been arrested, sources in the North Korean tourist
industry said. Sources working in North Korea are often forced to remain
anonymous when talking to the press for fear of state reprisal or loss
of business.

If the staff at
the Seamen's Club who found the bible had told Fowle's guides, and not
the authorities, they might have avoided the arrest too, the source
familiar with his arrest said.

Fowle hid the bible on May 4. He later admitted to the group that he had left it there deliberately, for "someone to read."

The rest of Fowle's group didn't talk to him when they heard what he had done. They felt he had put them in danger.

After the incident, Fowle had two days of normal sightseeing in
Pyongyang, where he took photos of large bronze statues of North Korea's
former leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

He was arrested on May 7, once he cleared customs at Pyongyang's Sunan Airport.

About Me

I retired from the US State Department in April 2006, after a career as a special agent, Senior Regional Security Officer (SRSO), director of training, chief investigator of the Cyprus Missing Persons Program, director of security of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and as a senior adviser in the Office of Anti-Terrorism Assistance.
My book, STAYING SAFE ABROAD: TRAVELING, WORKING AND LIVING IN A POST-9/11 WORLD was published in May 2008.
A complete update of STAYING SAFE ABROAD 2015, will be release during early 2015 for the iPad, Kindle and Nook and other e-readers.
I am a former Federal Firearms Dealer (US), a certified NRA pistol instructor and a certified NRA Range Safety Officer.
My career has also included 15 years as an international security consultant; for ten years I served as the security adviser to the Inter-American Development Bank.
I additionally, served six years in the Marines, which included combat service in Vietnam.
I am available for operational assignments, lecturing opportunities and in providing security solutions anywhere in the world.